PhD Studentship: Hybrid Foldamer-Polymer Scaffolds as Novel Biomaterials for Wound Healing Applications

Foldamers are synthetic helical oligomers that adopt stable secondary structures through mimicking the folding patterns of biological systems to generate biomimetic structures of well-defined size and shape. In recent years, the biological activity of a diverse array of foldamers as potential antimicrobial and antibacterial agents has excited much interest. However, despite the potent antimicrobial properties of foldamers, which make them excellent candidates for topical wound healing treatment, their potential application as wound healing biomaterials has not yet been explored. Moreover, 3D scaffolds obtained from the supramolecular assembly of foldamers often lack the mechanical properties required for their optimal performance as biomedical devices.

Polymers have recently emerged as a promising class of materials for biomedical applications, due to their ease of synthesis and tuneable mechanical properties. These attractive features have encouraged their widespread use in a range of applications, including drug delivery, tissue regeneration, and initial studies into their wound healing properties have been reported. However, the effective use of polymeric materials for wound healing applications is severely limited by their inefficacy to induce a biological response, which in turn leads to a failure in promoting in situ tissue healing and growth.

In this project, we will address the current limitations associated with the use of individual foldamers and polymers scaffolds as topical wound healing treatments by creating a new class of biomimetic hybrid foldamer-polymer materials which combine and optimize the desirable features of both individual scaffolds.

These hybrid scaffolds will form controlled double-network hydrogels in which the mechanical and biocompatibility properties of the scaffold can be orthogonally tuned through modification of either the polymer or foldamer components. Furthermore, the presence of the biomimetic foldamer component allows the scaffold to not only function as a topical wound care device but also to exhibit antimicrobial activity, which has long term implications for increased patient recovery.

During the course of the project, a diverse range of libraries of foldamer-polymer scaffolds will be created in order to permit optimization of the biological performance of these hybrid biomaterials as a new generation of topical wound healing devices with in-built antimicrobial activity. The cytocompatibility and the tissue healing and growth properties of these biomaterials will be assessed in 2D and 3D in vitro cell culture.

Funding notes:

This fully-funded PhD studentship through the BBSRC Centre for Doctoral Training: Midlands Integrative Biosciences Training Partnership (MIBTP) (see: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/mibtp/)

PhD studentship includes:

• tax free annual stipend (in academic year 2023-24 this was £18,622.00)
• travel allowance in year 1
• travel/conference budget
• a generous consumables budget
• use of a MacBook Pro for the duration of the programme 

The project will be supervised by Dr Sarah Pike (s.j.pike@bham.ac.uk) and Dr Anna Peacock.

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